Porterhouse

I seasoned it with cracked black pepper, and kosher salt. Then, after getting a good sear on one side, turned it, and finished it in the oven. These are Chicago Steak dry-aged prime porterhouse, 2 lbs. Very tender.
While resting (loosely tented with foil on a platter), I deglazed the pan with American Honey Wild Turkey, let it cook down, added some whole black peppercorns. Then added cream, and reduced it a bit.
Yes, it was that good.

New Year's Eve Seafood Stew with Linguine

Finely diced onion, garlic, carrot, fennel; sliced lemon, pureed tomatoes (frozen from last fall's famer's market). Seasonings: red pepper flakes, Old Bay, black pepper, thyme, Italian seasoning, kosher salt. I also used tomato and anchovy paste. I used the dry marsala to deglaze the pan, and simmered with the white wine.

I used a selection of easily available, frozen seafood: lobster tails, mussels, shrimp, Alaskan crab, and large scallops.
Saute the vegetables, add the seasonings, deglaze with the Marsala, cook down.

Add tomato paste, anchovy paste, white wine, tomato sauce. Cook a bit. I scooped out the lemons.

I added the seafood, starting with the lobster halves, then the mussels, shrimp, scallops, and topped with the crab.

Put the lid on and simmered while I cooked a porterhouse. yep.

Put linguine in a bowl, add some pieces of seafood, ladle sauce over top. Serve with crusty bread and a salad. and aforementioned porterhouse.

Yogurt Whole Wheat Waffles

3/4 cup Wheat Montana Prairie Gold flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar, I didn't pack it.
1 generous tablespoon wheat germ
1 generous tablespoon milled flax seed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons melted butter

Mix together dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls.

Combine, stirring in the melted butter.

Let batter sit for about 15 minutes. Bake on a greased, hot waffle iron.
Serve with real butter and maple syrup.
...and of course, a side of bacon.

Chicken Pizza

Easy. It's Friday, I found myself wandering the aisles of the big blue box store, you know the one. I felt rather zombie-like, had a sinus headache all day and was picking up more cold meds, plus looking for something for dinner. This is what I came up with. One could make it even easier by purchasing a deli chicken, or a bag of frozen, cooked chicken strips.

Purchased, thin, whole wheat crusts, topped with some jarred 4 cheese rosa sauce, shredded asiago/parmesan/romano cheese, sliced chicken breasts (zapped in the microwave with Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and olive oil), julienned smoked ham (leftover sandwich meat), sliced green onion.

I baked it in a hot oven (430F, convection). When finished, I drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled with crushed red pepper flakes.

Today's Breakfast: Prairie Gold Pancakes

I love Wheat Montana Flour. Really. No, they don't pay me to say that, I wish....

1 cup Prairie Gold Whole Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon milled flax seed
1 heaping tablespoon wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I didn't have any, so used regular milk and added a bit of apple cider vinegar and let it sit a bit.)
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 eggs
Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients, then mix together with the dry. As in all pancake recipes, do not over mix, let there be lumps!

Fried Chicken

Wanting to do something with the gravy leftover from breakfast, I thought fried chicken would be great!

I picked up an inexpensive chicken, under $4.

Then, I put together a marinade: milk, apple cider vinegar, paprika, thyme, garlic powder, bay leaf, ancho chili powder, pepper. I cut up the chicken, reserving the back and other trimmings for a stock. The chicken pieces marinated in the milk mixture for several hours.

After draining the chicken, I dredged it in seasoned flour, using some of the same seasonings used in the marinade.

After dredging the chicken, I put them in a deep cast iron chicken fryer. It's similar to a regular cast iron pan, but deeper.

I forgot to look at the clock, but I set aside about an hour for the process. I put the pieces on a rack on top of rimmed baking sheet and put the chicken in the oven to stay warm while I finished off the rest of the meal.

Today's Breakfast: Biscuits & Gravy

These are easy to make. I used a half pound of breakfast sausage, adding a little bit of vegetable oil to the pan when browning the sausage.

I use bay leaves, sage, thyme, and ancho chili powder to season, along with lots of black pepper and salt to taste.

Add about a half cup of flour to the browned sausage, let it coat the sausage and cook for just a little bit.

Oh yes, I did. One can use just milk, or evaporated milk, or chicken stock. I used half-n-half, and some milk.

Add the seasonings, let it simmer.

Now, for the biscuits. I simply use the recipe on the back of the baking powder can with a few adaptations: 2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white, 1 cup whole wheat), 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder, about a half tsp. salt, 1 stick butter (it calls for 1/3 cup shortening), 3/4 cup milk (I used the rest of the half-n-half, and some milk, and used more, almost a cup).

Washing the grater is so much easier than washing a food processor. This works every time. Simply grate cold butter into the flour, then toss to coat.

Add the milk, stir briefly. I use an ice cream scoop to form the biscuits. Again, avoiding the mess of rolling the biscuits out on the counter. I tend to get flour everywhere.

Bake in a hot oven, 425F, for about 15 minutes.

Fruit Cake 2012

I have adapted a recipe from James Beard's American Cookery. The base is poundcake:
2 cups butter
1 1/3 cup white sugar (reserve the 1/3 cup for the egg whites)
2/3 cups brown sugar
10 large eggs, separated
1 generous teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup chopped walnuts
About 8 cups of dried fruit, chopped,
1 cup flour (to mix with the fruit and nut mixture, stirred into the batter at the end.)

I used a variety of dried fruit: dates, apricots, candied lemon and orange peel, cranberries, cherries, currants, and a some golden raisins. I also added some dried zest. The dried fruit was soaked in Wild Turkey Honey for a week or two. I used a processor to dice the fruit into smaller bits.

Cream the butter, then add sugar.

Separate the eggs, then add the yolks to the butter and sugar mixture. Continue to beat.

Add the eggs slowly. Add vanilla.

The mixture should be light, like sweetened whipped cream.

Sift the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg, butter, and sugar mixture. Use a gentle hand to fold in.

Whip the egg whites, adding the reserved 1/3 cup sugar.

Put some of the beaten whites into the batter to lighten it up, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Add the remaining cup of flour to the fruit and nut mixture, then add it to the batter.

I use ice cream scoops to put the batter into the pans. 3 scoops for the loaves, and one mini-scoop for the mini-muffin size. They baked at about 325, mini-muffins took about 25 minutes, the loaves closer to an hour.

Brush the cakes with rum when they come out of the oven.

After bathing all the cakes in rum, I put them into plastic bags and they will age in the fridge. I will take them out periodically to brush with more rum.

This recipe made 24 mini-muffins, and 10 small loaves. They will undergo a soaking in a sweet syrup flavored with Gran Marnier before gifting.